From Within
by DarkShadowRin
Summary: Reborn meets a woman prattling something about the future and a Family and really, he might not really regret not ignoring her.
1. Chapter 1

Renato held his chin, frowning.

"Okay, so let me get this straight. You can see the future?"

The woman, Luce, nodded, watching him.

"Right. I get that." he himself was a telepath. Dying Will Flames _were _psychic. Spiritual, mental, and everything that was the essence of a person compacted into the physical manifestation. Psychometry, empaths, astral projection, psychokineses, apportation- of course it was all real (though for some reason much, much more prevalent with Mist types than any others that usually only managed to tap into pyrokineses).

There were a lot of absurd things hidden under the mundane society, things denied by the civilization for whatever reason. Renato had personally witnessed many things he didn't have any explanation for.

So while he had believed precognition to be just a myth (with Vongola Intuition the closest to it) until now, he was flexible with this sorts of things.

"And the reason you're telling me this, is because you saw me in your visions. In a lot of your visions, to the point that you're now claiming that our fates are intrinsically linked."

Luce nodded again, delicately popping one of the sugar cubes the cafe had provided them into her mouth.

"And in this future, you helped me find my family. Because... what? I still don't get that part. Shouldn't you have gotten these things sorted out before you came talking to me."

Luce rolled her eyes, "I told you. I don't know either. It isn't as if I predict _everything, _or that I can even choose what I see. They come to me at random, visions with no chronological order. Some of them I can tell what will come first, obviously, with the age of the people in it but how should I know_ when _it'll happen. All I know is that what I dream, are things that _haven't_ happened yet. I didn't even know we would cross paths _today _of all days."

Then she grumbled, "It's not as if I was particularly eager to meet you either."

"So you were procrastinating. Ignoring the inevitable as long as it hasn't happened yet."

She narrowed her eyes at him and viciously tore a piece of the croissant in her hands.

"Youre going to get fat."

"That's not something you tell a lady you just met."

Renato looked at her flatly, "Nothing of what you just dumped at me is anything you're supposed to tell a guy you just met."

The twenty-two year old hired killer honestly wasn't sure if he regretted entertaining her.

At first he had assumed that she was just some insane daughter of some family, spouting things like his future. But then he actually heard what she was saying and suddenly, he found himself getting invested in the story.

The credibility of her words was really only tentatively bought by him when she, out of frustration, began talking about things that he had made sure no on alive should have any knowledge of. She almost followed the trend too, actually.

Multiple times, in fact, during the whole conversation.

"...so now what?" Luce asked, her cheek propped up against her fist.

His right eye twitched.

"What do you mean by _now what_?"

"Now what are you gonna do?"

"I _know _that's what you meant but do you honestly expect me to have the answer immediately?"

"...oh. Okay. So you don't want to find your fellow elements?"

"Of course I do. I will." He stated firmly without missing a beat.

"So what are you thinking about then?"

This woman...

Renato gritted his teeth.

He wondered when the last time he had felt as vexed as he did now. He was usually the one doing the vexing.

"_Look,_ principessa, why don't you keep quite for now and finish your meal." He snapped at her.

"That's sexist."

_"How-?!"_ How was that in any way sexist?!

_She _was annoying!

He exhaled a hiss, staring into her too deep blue eyes with a tight smile, talking to her in the same way he might've spoken to an aged person whose mentality had degraded into a child's, "See here lady, I need time to process this, alright?"

Her lip twitched and he knew she was doing this on purpose and enjoying it immensely.

"Alright, alright. But just so you know, we're the same age, so don't talk to me like that, kay?"

Finally, she left him alone to his thoughts while she nibbled at her food.

He mused at what he could've done in the future for her to have such an attitude against him.

He narrowed his eyes at her, a suspicion flitting by as he recalled the familiarity in the manner in which she delivered her comebacks.

... was she perhaps giving him a taste of his own medicine? Literally?

Was she _ripping _off his future ideas?! His very own words?!

What a plagiarist!

He sighed, looking out into the streets.

His eyes passed over the headline of a foreign newspaper spread out on the next table over. He absently traced the words **_"_****_German Army Attacks Poland; Cities Bombed, Port Blockaded; Danzig Is Accepted into Reich"._**

There was that too.

Renato led such a dangerous life in such a dangerous time. He couldn't truly claim that he'd never wondered about a Family, but... certainly, he tried to think about it as less as he could. He never dared risk it.

For both party's sake.

But neither could he rein in the curiosity and, grudgingly, the anticipation.

Ugh. This was ridiculous.

"Ah."

Luce pushed back her chair, sending her mug toppling. He looked up, and followed her gaze to a car outside and the people stepping out one by one.

Luce and he weren't exactly out of sight.

"Hm. So this is why you're so impatient."

"Well, I have to go now."

His hand shot up and clamped around her wrist. Her eyes widened.

"You still haven't answered my question."

"I told you, I don't-"

"I'm not asking you for the reason of your future self. Right now you _are _your future self."

The men and a woman power walked across the street towards their side. He felt the tingle in the back of his neck, eyes burning at him.

"If you already had someone after you, you should know that it was stupid to have had a chat with me like this. You should've just continued walking. Why do _you _want to help me find this mystery Family that you vehemently deny even being a part of?"

She bit her lip, eyes flickering between him and the approaching people. They were almost to the door now.

"I- I'm not- It was your fault!" She stuttered, "In my visions, you looked so happy, and earlier, you were just-"

Too blue eyes looked at him,"Compared to what can be, you'd looked so cold and lost."

A silence passed between them and he saw in the corner of his eye the one leading the squad pulled the door open.

"... How sure are you now that I won't just get rid of you, to eliminate such an unpredictable variable that can pose a threat to me and that Family you were talking about?" He demanded mercilessly.

Tears welled up in her eyes.

"I'm not."

"You're not a threat?" He ridiculed.

"I'm not sure. I don't know. I don't know if you'll kill me."

He stared at earnest eyes.

This wasn't the first time that his telepathy had been deflected. As espers went, his ability was nifty but not particularly powerful. Anyone with the will and mind power and awareness to shield their thoughts could pose an obstacle for him.

This Luce was, rather than a woman, gave off an impression of a girl.

He'd heard of a Luce.

Of the fallen Giglio Nero.

A daughter among fifteen sons. Raised and pampered since young, or so the rumours implied.

If he was right, then those people should be from the Bertesca.

Renato roughly pulled Luce over his shoulder and leapt over the counter, leaving a waiter yelping behind them as he dashed to the back of the building, the satchel slung across her shoulder trailing behind them.


	2. Chapter 2

"Do you even have a plan on how to approach them?"

Renato glanced at the woman in the seat beside him.

"You're not the most paranoid of them all, you know?"

"Then tell me about them, I'll think something up."

She hummed, "I'll try to build a clear image, but... Well I don't know much either."

He turned the steering wheel, the car slowing down the bend, "Just tell me what you can."

"Right. So first, and I think the easiest to find should be Skull De Mort."

He blinked, easily recalling where he heard the name, "That stuntman?"

A civilian.

He felt a not so unfamiliar doubt rise in him.

Even as he was passing a random post, he saw one of said performer's posters.

It was faded and the date was a year ago so he dismissed it.

"I've been to one of the guy's show actually. Let me guess, lightning? I would say Sun but _I'm_ the Sun. Unless you forgot to mention a twin?"

She smiled, "No. You're wrong. And no twin. Wanna guess again?"

Their interaction, for not having known each other more than a few hours -with no small amount of threats from his part either-, had become rather friendly.

"Okay, umm... So performer... a Mist, maybe?"

She chuckled, "Nope."

"Alright, tell me or do I need to go down the entire list."

"Cloud."

His eyebrows jumped up in surprise.

"... I probably would've listed every other Flames before I thought that."

"It's a bit surprising that you buy into those stereotypes."

He shrugged, "Stereotypes are stereotypes for a reason. There's a tendency there."

"Uhuh, and you're definitely so sunny."

"Touché."

"Okay, so Skull is Immortal."

"The Immortal Stuntman."

"Immortal_ immortal, _as in, every time he has a mishap and, er" she pulled her lip over her teeth, "dies, he just gets back up, thanks to his Flames."

Weird. But cool. At least he wouldn't have to worry about the guy accidentally dying on him.

"I see... Well then I'll just have to blackmail him into exposing his cheating to make him come with me, right?"

Luce shoots him a flat look.

"From what I'd seen so far, he's a bit distrustful but probably thanks to his perk, he's also the most trusting of everyone. He says 'It doesn't matter if he's backstabbed anyways since he could just walk it off'."

Renato side eyed her.

He didn't think it was as simple as that.

"What else? How about favourites."

Luce considered deeply.

"He likes cold drinks. Doesn't matter when or when, he drinks melted ice in December in Russia. He likes black and purple, I think. Maybe. He definitely loves bikes and stunts. And he's younger than what he says he is. That's it. That's all I know."

"How about the rest. Tell me about them."

"Since you mentioned twins earlier, how about Lal and Colonnello, the twin Rain."

"I doubt that's their real name."

He parked the car in a space reserved for the hotel he was staying at. He didn't make a move to get out, angling his body to face her.

Renato noticed she gestured a lot, a finger on her chin when she thought and hands waving around when she was trying to find the words for something.

Except for the telepathy bit, she was transparent.

"No it isn't but I don't know about that either. Lal is in the Regia Marina. She's a part of the Ace squad -the chief member actually. Colonnello is, as his name suggests, a colonel, of Germany-"

"Woah, wait, a Nazi?"

His tone implied he was hoping for a negative.

"..well, yes, and I think so will Lal be in the future. Or at least they're fighting in the same camp."

He stayed silent.

Soldiers, huh?

"Lal likes... you two share a fondness for guns but she prefers shotguns-" he clicked his tongue in disapproval at that, "-and... that's it as far as I know. She's the no-nonsense type. And I don't know if it already happened, but Lal is Colonnello's instructor. I don't know how, though."

"One of them is a Spy."

She shrugs, "Colonnello likes guns too, I guess. Rifles, specifically."

"Storm."

"Storm is... Feng. I'm not sure if that's really his name but probably not. He's an assassin, a prodigy martial artist affiliated under the Qing Bang. And he's already acquainted the Mist to some extent. That's it."

Luce didn't wait for him to prompt her, "The Mist is... I don't know their name. Or anything else but that they do know Feng, they're under the Gospella, and they're a powerful esper. And that they're couple years younger than Skull."

Skull was... if he took into account Luce's comment about 'being younger than he claims'- around his mid-teens right now so how much is 'a couple years' exactly? Either way, that'd make the enigmatic Mist very young.

"Then there's Lightning. Um, you know him actually. Everyone knows him, kind of. Delta, the scientist for the Delta mechanics, but he introduces himself as Verde."

Luce was evidently trying very hard to dig up what she could, nose wrinkled and eyes staring in the far off distance. And yet she could only scrounge up a pitiful sum.

Renato smirked.

Well, either way, it was enough to let him know that there were some interesting people out there and his Family consisted of some pretty interesting characters. And that they could at least protect themselves to some extent.

"Hey. Bringing me along, this means you'll protect me, right?"

"Aren't you shameless? Was this your plan all along?"

"I've seen you the most so I have a bigger impression of you and honestly, I thought after meeting you the first time you would've left me alone until we see each other again someday, " her voice lowered to a murmur, "I definitely didn't think I'd be tagging along the whole time."

Renato's opinion of the prophetic Sky rose a fraction. At the very least, she didn't seem to believe that she knew him just based on the bits she'd seen.

He could imagine it was very easy to fall into that trap.

"Say, can you even survive on your own?"

Luce looked at him sharply, "Of course I can."

"How much money do you have left?"

"None of your business."

"Can you cook? Do you have a way to continue producing money? Do you even know how to make your own bed? Draw your own bath?"

The more fingers he tapped, the redder her cheeks got.

"I'm not spoiled and stupid enough to the point I can't even do that!"

"So you can cook?"

"...No." She crossed her arms and looked away.

"Well, then you're _lucky _you stumbled on me. I'm lucky too actually, you probably wouldn't have lasted a week and then where would I be?"

With no knowledge of his Family and with a more peaceful mind, most likely.

Maybe occasionally daydreaming of nondescript faces but eventually losing the shine and allure of a group of people he would be obligated to protect -presumably from himself too. Maybe.

But he hadn't gotten to that point yet.

And dangling such tempting bait in front of him, how could he honestly leave it alone, with the knowledge of their tangible existence -maybe a person he'd just walk pass or a target he wouldn't have hesitated to cut down.

"Are the things in your satchel enough to last you a few days?"

"Yes."

"Let's go then, we'll have to leave Mykonos before they catch up."


	3. Chapter 3

"I think I'm going to be sick."

"Don't do it anywhere near me."

They were in a different car, the last one abandoned back in the hotel, pouring over a map (or at least he was) as they were loaded up onto the cargo ship. The car was in a metal crate, so it would have been dark and cold if not for Luce's ring of Flames revolving overhead, which had actually been too bright for any practical use before she moderated it.

Whatever was previously stored in the crate, it wasn't roses -and no, the tiny breathing holes in the walls did nothing to reassure her.

The odor was so strong it brought tears to Luce's eyes. And she'd have to bear this for...

"How long are we suppose to stay here, again?"

"Ten."

"Hours?"

"Days."

The teal haired girl wilted in her seat.

"What are we going to eat?" She moaned, folding her arms on the dashboard, chin resting on the wheel.

"I've prepared for that of course." He carelessly gestured to the backseat and a black sack.

"That's all food in there?" Luce peered at it. It was a kind of cloth sack, big enough to hold food for ten days for two people but small enough not to hamper her even if she was the one who carried it.

Renato had already taken off his suit and tie and draped it over the back of his seat, folding his sleeves to his elbows, "Hm."

"Why can't we turn on the cooler?"

"Because the car's battery. We can turn the cooler on for ten days and have to hijack another car later, if you want." It actually wouldn't give Renato more trouble than he already had on his plate, either way, but he knew Luce wasn't of the same opinion and he'd discovered needling Luce was as good as he was going to get in entertainment.

Luce wrinkled her nose, while Renato angled the Russia part of the map around, trying to recall how to get to St. Petersburg with less than legal means. He hadn't been to in... three years. Was that woman even still alive?

Meanwhile, the memory of the process of how they attained this car resurfaced and Luce decided that standing around while her companion rigged a car -one that she knew only too well was not easy to rig, being a design straight out of Delta Tech and because her driver used to drive one too- was too nerve-racking for her to want a rehash so soon. An alarm could've gone off whenever and neither would've known since it would've been wired directly to the owner.

He glanced at her mulish expression and smirked, "Hm. So you'll have to be content to at least be able to sleep with the cooler on."

"... Right. Yeah."

...All things considered though, her last few hours with the hitman had been better than the last few months.

Luce sighed.

"If you really want to, go dig some mint candies." He said, not looking up from where he was tracing the route they were going to take, in Turkey, then getting off on Ukraine, they still need to cross the country to Russia... where was that post again? Shit. Mist.

So he'll probably only be able to pinpoint it when he's almost-

He realized the light was suddenly way too bright and he was squinting to see past it.

Luce hadn't said anything. Did she fall asleep?

Renato looked up and jerked back, gun in his hand trained between two glowing orange furnace like eyes -It's gone past that normal apricot orange and to a tiger fire shade.

"_Dios Mio-!"_

His back hit the door and he didn't even have it in himself to worry about the people that might've heard.

This was straight out of a cryptid story, all glowy eyes and glowy floaty hair.

Then before he went all the way and squeezed the trigger, Luce returned back to normal with a sheepish smile and a wary look at the gun.

"Sorry. Usually I have a hold on the whole reaction thing but I must've relaxed too much."

"... Could've warned me at least." He huffed, and put away his gun, "I met another woman once who did the same thing and then tried to eat me after. What was that all about?"

"Oh, right. I had a, um, a vision." She shrugged, still embarrassed.

"Oh. Huh. Anything about us?"

She blinked, hummed, "No."

"Right. Then let's get out of here. You bring the sack of food. I need my hands to defend us if it comes down to it."

She jumped when he exited the door and scrambled after him, "What? Why?"

Renato raised a hand to shush her, listened to the noise outside, ignoring the one she made while dragging the sack beside her, before finally saying, "Thanks to your display, we've been busted."

"... wasn't it because of your over reaction, though?"

"Lets not wait for them to kick us out. We're better off hiding some other room on the ship."

"You just ignored me."

"Better hope it's gonna have a bed -At least get something good out of this." He knelt by the corner on the opposite side of the entrance and away from most of the voices, drawing a circle on it that glowed a bright yellow burn not a second later.

Luce sighed.  
XxXxXxX

"A demon." She whispered in awe, gazing after the last of the slithery tail disappearing around the corner.

"A youkai, actually. And quiet down, they tend to have sharp hearing."

Luce nodded and retreated back into the broom closet they had snuck in, beside Renato who had his back to the wall and eyes closed. She shut the door behind her carefully.

"I've never seen one before." She commented in a wondering tone.

"Really? They're pretty common." He snorted, "As common as China towns. They're not like sprites and stuff that are tied to a certain element. Pretty flexible, though barbaric in some cases."

"I've... never actually been much involved outside Midgard." Luce admitted quietly, "Definitely nothing past the Flame community, and even then."

"...That's both a surprise and not. Your Flames aren't exactly in line with the average, you're quite your famiglias powerhouse." Just that little display earlier was quite a feat and the girl didn't even seem to realize the enormity of it, "But your value as a fighter is lesser than your value as... you. What do you call you? A prophet?"

"Clairvoyant. Precognition."

"Aah. That."

She stared at the ceiling, listening to the broom handles rattle at times, "... soooo... are unicorns real?"

He opened his eyes and stared at her. She stared back at him.

"... I've never seen one, but, apparently, they are. It's unlikely I'd ever see one anyways. They only like women. Or so I've heard."

"So, what _is _out there?" She'd spent the last months just worrying for her life, her family's life, just running _away _from the enemies, that it was only now, in the relative safety of the whimsical company of a contract killer, that she found herself with the time to indulge in her curiosity.

He shrugged, "Stuff."

"You travel a lot, right?"

He smirked, "Going around killing people, yeah, I've been around."

"What kinds of beings have you met?" She chose to ignore the rest of his words.

He could just not answer but he had a feeling that wasn't a tactic that'd stop her. Redirect maybe, but probably to a more annoying pastime within this tiny space, "Er, I worked with a werewolf once."

"Woah. Really? What were they like?" She looked at him with sparkling eyes and couldn't quite resist inwardly puffing up.

"Well, she turned out to be a very demure girl that has two things happening to her for that 'once a month' thing. I learned being a werewolf is actually a sickness. Lycanthrophy, they call it. It's quote unquote, hell."

"Oooh." She scooted closer to him and he scooted away, "Hey, hey, how about gods. Is Adolf Hitler of Germany_ actually _the son of a god?"

"As far as I know, yeah. Lord of the dead, Greek." She nodded and at least she was aware enough not to say the name aloud.

"What about Jesus Christ. Was he real?"

"I can't answer definites for your questions, I _am _human, you know, but yeah. As far as I know." For a Mafia born lady, she sure was raised pretty mundane except for the Flames stuff. Probably had a lot of doubts between what was fantasy and reality with some people telling her was real, and others claiming was not.

"What about witches. Wizards. _Faeries_. Merlin, Morgan Le Fey, Arthur. Are they real?"

He scoffed, "Oh yeah, they are. And they're witches from the stories, alright. All about seclusion and stuff. Powerful and couldn't care less about 'outside matters' even more than Gods. Especially the Western ones. They have realms of their own branching out from Vanaheim that purposefully crossover between all realms in our reality, but apparently generally loathe to interact outside their race. "

"Amazons?"

"Scary shit."

"Atlantis."

"Pretty. Popular tourist destination. Shot a man's brains out in the streets once."

Luce paused, then pursed her lips, puzzled.

"So how does everything work? That sounds like a lot of things stuffed in one universe." She wondered.

He shrugged, "It works."

She looked at him expectantly.

Renato eyed her and tacked on, "It just sounds like a lot to process because you put them in different groups. Most people who learn about these things feel the same because they tend to differentiate everything into separate boxes, like what pantheon and mythos, Greek and Norse. I suggest just accept it as is. A part of one whole."

Luce traced the lines between the planks on the floor, eyes furrowed, "... It honestly sounds so unstable. Exciting. But unstable."

She glanced at him, clearly prompting him for his worldly opinion.

Renato raised an eyebrow at her and held his hands in front of him, "Hey, I'm just your humble hitman. What do I care about things like that? Somehow Yggdrasil keeps things connected and stable and as long as it doesn't collapse and cause the world to end, and hence also me by proxy, not my business. I mean, even then, at that point, what would I really even be able to do?"

Luce nodded in agreement. Nothing either of them could do then.

She reached for the sack, untied the knot, and retrieved a box of biscuit and cheese.

They nibbled on it.


	4. Chapter 4

They went five days of almost easy existence as stowaways.

Just talking about random things (Luce), asking carefully worded and not so carefully thought out questions (Luce), occasionally indulging each other with answers (Renato), and just passing away time.

Then the door was thrown open.

Renato's eye twitched.

He hadn't heard any footsteps.

But he wasn't inexperienced enough to jump at the littlest sound *_cough*, _so he simply watched as Luce flinched towards him in surprise, snapped out of her dozing, and a man clad in green closed the door behind him, his back to it, and his gaze clashing with the Sun.

Too bright to be simply 'rustic'. Unnaturally bright.

Supernaturally red.

Luce eeped.

The red fizzled out and settled on honey brown.

The three people fell silent and a few beats later, hissing and growls were heard passing by.

Slanting a look at him, Renato mentally poked at his mental barriers.

... Nothing.

Not blocked, or redirected. Just, nothing.

Renato cocked an eyebrow.

"_Oh, let me guess, a fellow stow away." _He said in English, since the guy would be more likely to speak that than Italian.

On a longer look, he was more boy than man. But then again, it was hard to tell with Asians. He had raven hair, pale skin, sharp eyes, and adorned in a green sleeveless changshan, black arm warmers, white baggy pants, and black cloth shoes.

Luce gaped at him. Inexplicably, might he add, since it prompted him for a closer look at the guy and didn't find anything that warranted a profound reaction.

He, the boy, glanced over them, pausing at Luce and stopping at him.

"_Not a stow away._" He smiled. He had that stiff accent of a non-native speaker but still intelligible.

"Ho?" Renato prompted.

_"Do you mind if I occupy this room with you, xiān sheng_?_"_ He asked politely.

Renato tilted his head to the side. Luce squeezed the arm she was clinging to.

_"Go ahead."_ He nodded.

The boy inclined his head to them, feet sliding across the floor. He settled on the wall opposite them.

"_So not a stow away. Why are you hiding?"_ He asked nosily.

Luce glanced at Renato, finally easing off of him and moving away.

"_Ah. I fucked over some people." _He demurred.

Luce brought a hand over her mouth, muffling the start of a guffaw.

The hit man blinked once, then twice.

Renato grinned, amused. He supposed it was rude to immediately think if the boy even knew what he said.

But in his defence, the words clashed horribly with the expression he held.

_"Well, now I wanna know exactly how you did this fucking over?"_

He opened his mouth. Closed it. Then, apologetically, glanced over at Luce.

Oh he knew what he said alright.

_"That was inappropriate of me, I apologize, xiăojiě. I couldn't remember the word for it..."_

_"Don't bother."_

For her part, Luce just snorted, "_No, no, no. Nothing to be sorry about."_

_"Yes. So. Tell us."_

The kid had his hands clasped together in front of him. Renato didn't focus on it and kept track of his entire form. He'd crossed paths enough with human-weapons to be able to tell with one glance that this kid was one and a cut above the rest.

A Storm too.

Those were the worst people -not that any other Flame was better, per se, but death would certainly be quicker in this case- to be trapped in the same enclosed space with.

Luce and him were already under threat the moment this guy chose this room of all rooms.

He was evidently aware of the hand -and inadvertent threat- he'd shown though, and was pointedly making effort to get along with them. For the lack of aggression characterized to his type, or because he didn't feel like causing a ruckus in case of a struggle while he was already in trouble, it didn't matter.

_Renato mused that if it came down to it, Luce could just blast her Flames willy nilly and escape. He didn't think even a Storm would be able to burn through such dense Flames faster than a snail's pace. Hopefully, she'd be smart enough to somehow get on land._

He had confidence in his skills. Worst came to worst, a tendency one couldn't always avoid, he'd lose a limb or two. Not really a problem, considering.

"_The captain of the ship, he is a man of great reputation back in my country and many people want him dead."_

_"You were hired to kill him?" _Luce guessed.

The boy squinted his eyes in a smile, "_No. But I killed him. Now the èrshíyī assassins are out for me. I honestly did not board the ship for such purpose, and he just got caught up in an argument me and a companion."_

"_È__rshíyī?"_ she glanced between them.

"Twenty-one." Renato provided.

"_Aah, I see, that must be- _Wait." Luce's smile stiffened.

"You killed a man by accident...?"

"_Hilarious!"_ Renato smirked at the rueful smile. _"I mean, not a good work conduct for an assassin, but funny in your case."_

He startled, and looked at them wide eyed, _"Eh? How did you know I was an assassin?"_

...What a-

Renato and Luce stared.

"_We didn't." _Renato deadpanned.

"..._ Oh."_

_"Fa Chao." _A hiss came from the hall outside and the three turned to it. "_Fa Chao, you idiot, come out."_

_"Ah. That is my friend. I will go now. Thank you for letting me keep you company." _the boy, 'Fa Chao', stood up and did that bow thing with his hands in a rock and paper position in front of him.

Luce watched him leave thoughtfully.

For whatever reason, Fa Chao looked back, paused at Luce, and met Renato's stare, before closing the door behind him.

"Huh. Cool kid. Seems like a bit of an airhead though."

Luce rounded on him.

"That was Storm."

It took a second to process what she meant.

"What? Why didn't you tell me sooner?" He demanded, shooting to his feet, not quite sure if he was supposed to chase after the kid.

Luce bit her lip apologetically, "I didn't know what you would do."

...fair enough. He had been acting rather impetuous with Skull de Mort's matter in front of her.

Fa Chao seemed to have been in the middle of something anyways.

"You couldn't have beaten him. Not this close." She hurriedly finished, before he could even think of being offended.

Not that close.

Yeah. He might know what she meant.

He clicked his tongue, "Right. Yeah, yeah, whatever. That's one check on the list, at least."

Speaking of which.

Fa Chao.

There was something about knowing his name first hand, that made Renato realize that if his name had really been Feng like Luce said, he would've felt cheated out of something.


	5. Chapter 5

"And then- hey, are you listening?"

"Honestly? No. I'm more interested in why you're pouring gasoline on docks in the dark of the night and why we haven't left yet -not that I'm complaining- rather than why, exactly, you think your neighbour must be some sex goddess under disguise."

Luce flushed, "I didn't say sex!"

"Okay. So what's with the gas." He motioned curiously at the pitcher she was upending under the ship they had just unboarded.

"Never mind it." She threw the now empty container away and lit the match in her hand.

She tossed it all casual like.

Fire raged.

Renato stared.

She rolled her eyes, "It's not what you think."

He stuffed his hands in his pockets, "A shame, then. Because I thought I was actually learning to like you. Still. Why burn an empty ship? If you're going to burn something, at least burn it with people in it."

She raised a finger at him, brows furrowed, and opened her mouth. Then closed it. Brought down her hand. And turned away with an exasperated sigh.

"I have my reasons."

Renato glanced at the burning ship, listened to some distant panicking, shrugged, and jogged after her.

"What reasons, if you don't mind me asking."

"Uh. I do mind."

"I'm going to bother you until you tell me and you know it."

She groaned dramatically like only a pampered brat could, twisting her hand around the strap of her bag. They strolled down the streets, quickly filling up with curious onlookers from nearby pubs. He saw certain individuals he could recall seeing on the ship.

"It's connected with my visions."

"Okay, that's cheap. Don't blame everything on visions."

"It is!"

"Oh yeah? How?"

"Remember that vision I had? I saw the ship burning."

"You saw yourself burning the ship? So you did it? Just like what you did with me." He gave her a scathing look, blatantly disapproving.

Letting something like that dictate your actions. That's just annoying.

"No. I saw the ship burning. So I burned it." She said, as if that made some difference.

He side-stepped some old man in a cane, glancing around and focusing on the faint tic tic, in the back of his head, "Explain the logic."

She fumbled, "Well. You know. I've never been able to stop my visions. Everything that I see that will happen, happens. So. I'd rather it- I'd rather decide the circumstances. The ship will burn at night. I can't change that. But I can make it that it burns when it's empty and people are far from the danger- What?"

"...That's surprisingly clever."

"What do you mean surprisingly?!" she exclaimed indignantly. He grabbed her arm and pulled her into an alley and emerged at an emptied part of the dock.

"So, is it that what you see is your future self following what you did so if you didn't do it there wouldn't be any fire in the first place, or, are you sure that there would've been a fire even if-"

"No. Stop right there. For your own good, just don't think about it. Like your advice, take it as is. Been there, done that, it's not a fun experience to trap yourself in a paradox." She raised a hand at him, flipping her hair behind her as she looked away.

Her sudden sage attitude ticked him and out of a maturity conceived from overcoming the obstacles and hardships in his two decade or so of existence, he pushed her into the water.

He followed after, landing on a ledge beside the water and a flailing Luce.  
XxXxXxX

"You are horrible. And petty. What if I fall sick, huh?" Luce hissed under her breath.

They had been walking around for four hours, the sun has risen high, and it was almost lunch. Of course they had breakfast.

Luce's stomach was too delicate that missing even a single meal had her crumpling, as he discovered after they forgot to eat dinner on the seventh day.

Ugh.

Now he was starting to wonder if she was even worth the cost of her maintenance in the long term.

They were in an 'underground' street -as in strategic architecture 'underground but not _really'-_, a mafia neighbourhood, having entered it through the tunnel under the dock, just above sea level and completely hidden from view.

"Oh hush. I'm a Sun."

Luce had been soaking wet but recovered quickly enough via lighting herself on Sky Flames and evaporating the water.

Her hair was ruined, to say the least, since she'd gotten too enthusiastic and forgot keep the heat from it.

"I'm lucky I had my money in a metal box, only the clothes got wet." She grumbled complaints beside him.

_"Yo! Renato! Over here!"_

He turned towards the voice hollering at him, a tiny woman almost lost among the other vendors, furiously waving an arm that abruptly blunted into a stump at the wrist, _"Who's the lady?"_

"Come on."  
XxXxXxX

"So why are you coming with us?" Luce asked Pit, "Not to be rude, of course."

"Don't worry honey, I ain't gonna crash your date. I just really wanna see Skull de Mort, I'll disappear as soon as we get in. I don't look like it but I'm a big fan." She grinned, throwing braided brown hair behind her.

"If this was a date, then it's lasted way too long and I'm all ready to dump him." Luce said flatly.

"Unfortunately, for the both of us, we just have this undeniable need for each other's company." Renato drawled.

Yeah. And to Luce's misery, her need for him was arguably more important than his need for her.

She uneasily glanced around, pulling the fur coat Renato bought her tighter. There were so many people.

And ironically, it somehow brought the fact there was a war only a few countries away closer to her mind.

The heiress gazed at the traffic ahead towards the brightly coloured banner in front of the equally bright tent, proudly displaying:

Skull De Mort,  
Hated by the Grim Reaper himself  
The Immortal Stuntman!  
Show: 5:30 am- 11:00 am  
4:00 pm- 11:00 pm  
Signing: 12:00 am- 3:00 pm  
11:00 pm- 5:00 am

It was currently 11:16.

"Oh, he's busy." She murmured.

"I'd imagine if he was immortal via Cloud Flames, propagation, he wouldn't even need those time skips and probably just stuck it there in a half-hearted attempt to look less suspicious." Renato told her.

"-Skull de Mort is a revolutionary performer. He brings his circus literally everywhere. Not just one country to another, he's been to West and East around the world. Some people even say he's the one who _made _the Cirque Du Trio D'or, but he's too young and he'd have to have managed it since he was, what, eight? Well, I suppose saying he made it into what it is now isn't exactly wrong. He's so amazing have either of you seen a stunt of his before?" Pit gushed, blending quite well with the scene of purples, blacks, even some reds, and blues.

And leathers.

Just looking at it made Luce feel hot.

"No. But I've heard a lot and I'm excited."

"Once or twice," Renato admitted, before lowering his voice, "Heard a lot?"

She bobbed her head, "Yup. He's famous in all circles, and I specifically looked into him since, you know. Can't exactly help it."

"I thought what you know was what you only told me. That was hardly 'a lot'."

She looked at his frown and tapped her cheek, "Well, I didn't think it was important to tell you that he had, reportedly, had a handful of flings with some controversial men and he apparently is a sucker for anything with a skull on it."

"You told me his favourite drink."

"That was from visions and therefore as validated as it could get save for asking him myself. I don't think I was in a place to provide you unreliable information."

Luce turned back to Pit.

"Che." What was he supposed to say to that?

He would've absolutely killed her if she tried passing him gossip. If only for an excuse to get rid of such unnerving entity.

Then his face darkened at a realization. Or, a recollection, because it wasn't as if he hadn't been aware of it already.

He didn't know if what she gave him _wasn't _gossip.

Because he _couldn't read her mind._

Just another tally to the side of him that was still questioning his decision to do this. With the rest of him knowing full well he still would've done the same thing no matter how many times he was to return to that moment.

Because he was the only person who could stop himself and that asshole ain't gonna do anything.

"Aw, that's so cute. Your niece made this?" Luce suddenly cooed in a very maidenly tone.

The fuck?

Renato did a double take at her back wide-eyed.

Why the sudden womanly modesty when she'd been a total brat the whole time.

... wait. She'd told him things she knew about him, but he couldn't recall if she mentioned that she knew that he could read minds.

If so, did she even know he couldn't read her mind? Or was that why she had been transparent so far because she thought he already knew?

... In any case, he was never bringing it up.


	6. Chapter 6

The papers on the table, neatly stacked into three separate towers, momentarily turned to six and she knew she should give up for tonight.

Laalima yawned before slumping in her seat, blinking bleary eyes at the oak desk under her hand.

The room was quiet. The night was quiet.

The kind of chilly silence that loosened knotted muscles in her neck and shoulders and dunked her into nostalgia.

_"The winners write history, baby girl."_

Her mother used to tell her not to believe everything out of her father's mouth.

But as her father was the God of War, she'd thought that it was one thing she should probably be listening closely to.

The last she'd seen her father, she was seven. The last she saw her mother, she was eight.

There was a place for people like her, children of people like her father (a place specifically for the daughters of her father)- she couldn't remember which of her parents actually told her that.

She'd never seen it. Never managed to reach it.

And though there was still a curious part of her, it was more cursory than anything.

'Take a look at it just to see what it was', that sort of thing.

Her mother was a pure Indian woman, born, raised, and died in her country. Laalima never saw her to be the type a God of War as violent as Ares would've ever taken a fancy to, all gentle coos, and high squeals, and soft smiles.

She was about eighty percent certain that her father had done something to her memories regarding her mother's death. She could never recall the circumstances.

And that in turn made her decide that it must've been a particularly cruel one if it was not appropriate for even a daughter of the Greek God of War.

That said, all of that was in her past.

She hadn't seen a glimpse of her father in the last twelve years -she was turning twenty-two this year-, and she wasn't particularly bothered. Laalima had gotten over most of what might've been there, anyways.

The world was at the brink of War.

She could feel it like only a daughter of her father's could.

Fear. The dread hanging over other's head.

Hate, discontent, glory, victory, loss. So crude and senseless.

It was a stage tailor made for her.

One she was eager to perform on.

"Gisela?"

"Yes, hon?" The redhead turned to her, shifting from her position by the window.

Laalima tugged at the part of her hijab that had shifted over her mouth. She raised a piece of handwritten paper, "Your colonel is in position. Orders, ma'am?"

The older woman blinked, then chuckled at the wide eager russet eyes wordlessly begging her.

"You know that the only reason you're not in field is because you're too good at leading. And there wasn't much action on the ground, before." Lashes lowered, she played with the rings on her fingers.

Red. Yellow. Green. Blue. Indigo. Violet.

The wings were surprisingly not as hindering as she initially expected.

She smiled sweetly.

"But now that all preparations are ready, Grindelwald is already the star of his show, and your cousin has made his first open move, far be it for me to hold you back."

Amber eyes slanted to the portrait behind Laalima.

She narrowed her eyes at the familiar representation of the nine realms.

"Grindelwald. Adolf. Both of them, they think they're so great." She gritted her teeth, "For the longest time, humans have been the bottom of the power ladder, gods and demons, everyone trampling all over Midgard, our rights non existent but if it was their own suddenly we're trespassing."

Laalima watched her.

"I do admit," she muttered, "we are partly at fault too after all. We ourselves are inherently selfish, hoarding knowledge from each other and holding our entire race back."

Gisela crossed her arms, a determined smile on her face.

"It's time to fix that."  
XxXxXxX

First step to liberation of humanity: unity, of course.

We need to show the world exactly what's out there. The silent threats hanging over our heads by _gods, _the contempt we receive from those _above, _the demons and parasites that drain what is rightfully_ ours_, everyone taking advantage of us, each in their own way. Fear unites people, that's a tried and true method.

And then, we will show them what _they _can do.

Humans push forward higher, faster, better, when there is a threat. When there is something to fight against.

When there is War.

The stage is ready.

All that's left are the actors to play the scene.

There is no hero without a villain.

She needed to make a hero out of humans, a hero of their own.

The equation was simple enough.

And the beautiful thing about this world was, she didn't even need to _make _the villains.


End file.
